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HUMAN RELIGION 



BY 

CLAUDE M. JOHNSON 




CHARLES MERCER 
PUBLISHER 



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Copyright, 1917, by 
Charles Mercer 



FEB 24 1919 
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PREFACE 

This book is a plea for the enhancement 
of the value of human life and a treatise on 
religion, briefly explaining some of the fail- 
ures of Christianity to meet the require- 
ments of advancing civilization. 

It suggests a religious evolution, as essen- 
tial to the correction of existing irreligious 
and inhuman conditions believed to have 
been produced mainly by the fallacies of our 
prevailing religious teachings. 

It contains no quotations from the great 
philosophers who have theorized upon the 
possibility of Biblical inspiration and has 
no complex arguments to cause ambiguity. 

It is intended to be within the grasp of 
the average reader and is offered to the 
public for the purpose of eliciting comment 



PREFACE 

upon the same subject from other writers — 
in fact, it is the desire of the writer to in- 
augurate a literary crusade having for its 
object the ultimate suppression of waste 
and destruction of the world's greatest asset 
- — human life — and the restoration of per- 
manent peace to the world. 

C. M. J. 



HUMAN RELIGION 

PART FIRST 

There is no language known to mankind 
capable of conveying to the human mind 
knowledge of the vastness of the universe. 
The human mind is not so constructed that 
it could grasp such knowledge even if there 
was a language available for its description. 
The limitations of human intelligence ren- 
ders it impossible for us to embrace and 
understand a concise description of limitless 
space containing a never-ending extension 
of solar systems such as the one of which 
the earth forms a part. 

We cannot comprehend or define the in- 
finite when applied to that limitless scheme 
of organized matter comprising the uni- 



6 HUMAN RELIGION 

verse which, so far as we know, has no 
beginning or end and which continues its 
perfected mechanical operation in all direc- 
tions — solar system after solar system and 
beyond to other solar systems, on and on 
through space without end. 

It is not possible for scientific research 
ever to attain a stage of perfection that will 
enable us to enumerate within one millionth 
part of one per cent the globes which con- 
stitute the working parts of that grand me- 
chanical scheme, or to understand the force 
which holds them in action. 

The earth is about twenty-five thousand 
miles in circumference and is surrounded by 
an atmosphere fifty miles deep. The small- 
est gnat, or even a microbe imperceptible to 
the naked eye, flying in our atmosphere, 
would occupy relatively a greater portion of 
that space than this world occupies in the 
incalculable space through which it moves, 
and in size compares with some of the other 



HUMAN RELIGION 7 

planets as that microbe compares in size 
with an albatross. 

The diminutive part performed by the 
world in the grand celestial mechanism 
formed by the orbs of the universe, must be 
admitted. It is, therefore, contrary to the 
promptings of human intelligence not to as- 
sume that the aggregated life on this small 
planet is an infinitesimal part of the gigantic 
accumulation of life which must exist in 
some form on the myriads of planets per- 
forming similar functions in the same gen- 
eral organization; in fact, it is claimed by 
astronomers that unmistakable evidence of 
life has already been observed on our near- 
est neighboring planet, thirty million miles 
away, which we have named Mars. 

In the light of these conclusions, based on 
knowledge common to the human race, how 
wanting in perception and how egotistical 
it seems for mankind to base its whole 
scheme of civilization on the superstition 



8 HUMAN RELIGION 

that human life which comes into being on 
this small planet is so favored over the life 
which exists on other planets; that it is 
eventually transferred into space and made 
immortal, although every atom of the body 
which produced the life remains on earth. 

After the human body has worn out and 
ceases to perform the functions of life, it 
becomes waste material to decay and disap- 
pear into other forms of earthly substance: 
yet it is believed that the power produced 
by the body when in working order, — the 
action resulting from the pulsations of the 
heart and nerves, of thought, of feeling, of 
sight and of motion, — does continue to live 
after the human machine, as a unit, has 
ceased to exist and it is upon this supersti-^ 
tious belief that mankind has advanced the 
education of the human race since the begin- 
ning of human thought. 

This unnatural future existence, accord- 
ing to the teachings of modern religion, is 



HUMAN RELIGION 9 

peculiar to and given as a special privilege 
to human beings on this pin-point dot in the 
universe with no thought as to the destiny 
of life on all the other worlds and suns 
which we know exist and on the thousands 
of which we have no knowledge. 

In analyzing this last statement it must 
be remembered that the God of Christianity 
is made to sacrifice His only beloved Son 
for the salvation of the souls of the inhab- 
itants of this little world, with no reference 
as to how this sacrifice is to save the souls 
of the living on all the other inhabited plan- 
ets over whom He is supposed, as the creator 
of the universe, to preside with equal justice. 

The insignificance of life on this planet, 
when considered as a part of the immense 
volume of life which is believed to exist on 
other planets of the universe, does not, how- 
ever, deprive it of its importance to the in- 
dividuals of the human race or to the race 
as a whole. It is the only life that is known 



10 HUMAN RELIGION 

to us; we know of no other life. None of 
the thousand million people, more or less, 
now living or the thousands of billions who 
have lived and died, ever witnessed a real 
manifestation from those who previously 
had passed away. Never has there existed 
the slightest evidence that would stand the 
test of a crucial examination to prove that 
the life of man does not cease absolutely 
and completely, both materially and spirit- 
ually and in every other way, when the heart 
ceases to beat ; yet to a superstitious faith in 
a future, unnatural, immortal life we subor- 
dinate the real existence which nature has 
given us. 

The Christian religion uses the life we 
actually live on this earth as a preparatory 
existence for the spiritual life into which we 
are supposed to go when the real life ends, 
and in that real life we are required to de- 
prive ourselves of many pleasures which 
might be enjoyed without injury to our- 



HUMAN RELIGION 11 

selves or others, with a hope of reward in 
a spiritual life to come. 

Such a religion cheapens real human life 
by making it a means of acquiring a sup- 
posed spiritual life that is believed to exist 
only through faith in its teachings, the fal- 
lacies of which are plain and which have 
been explained by some of the wisest phi- 
losophers and ablest writers the world has 
ever produced. 

After nearly two thousand years of teach- 
ing in accordance with the gospel of Chris- 
tianity, we find the world steeped in crime 
more ghastly than any horrors depicted by 
fiction. We find the human intellect more 
strenuously applied to the discovery of fur- 
ther means to destroy human life than to 
preserve it, although, within one year, five 
million men have been destroyed with the 
means already at hand. 

We are, to-day, witnessing the premedi- 
tated massacre of an innocent, harmless peo- 



12 HUMAN RELIGION 

pie by a nation that is the pampered ally of 
two highly christianized nations, either of 
whom could have saved the lives of a million 
human beings through diplomatic negotia- 
tions with their murderous ally. We find a 
great majority of the christianized inhab- 
itance of the earth grappled in a conflict 
which has already resulted in the destruc- 
tion of prosperous nations and the commis- 
sion of crimes more cruel, and consequences 
more disastrous and heartrending, than any- 
thing ever conceived. And each involved 
nation is invoking the aid of God and claim- 
ing to be engaged in a holy war, with the 
instigator of this most sanguinary and 
desperate struggle proclaiming Divine 
authority as the right through which he 
rules. 

A devout believer in the Christian religion 
contemplating the horrors of the European 
War was heard to ask: "Where is God? 
How can He permit such things?" 



HUMAN RELIGION 13 

"Nero fiddled while Rome burned." 
America is dancing while Europe bleeds 
and pours into her lap gold for the purchase 
of means for the killing of more men. 

There is no way of estimating the suffer- 
ing and misery experienced by the human 
race, to-day, nor could there be anything 
more apparent than the absolute disregard 
for the value of human life, after nearly two 
thousand years of guidance under the gospel 
of Christianity which teaches us to make life 
on earth subordinant to the supposed spirit- 
ual life to come. 

There is something wrong in the funda- 
mental principles upon which our civilization 
is progressing and the glaring defect is un- 
questionably a disposition to regard human 
life as of little or no consequence. 

As the dog with a chunk of meat crossing 
a stream dropped the meat to grab at the 
enlarged watery reflection, lost the sub- 
stance in pursuit of the shadow, so are we 



14 HUMAN RELIGION 

taught by religion to suppress our real lives 
to the promise of an unproven spiritual life 
to come. 

The average adult is susceptible to the at- 
tractions of the unreal just as a child is 
susceptible to the wonders of a fairy tale. 
The boy who in his imagination climbs the 
bean stalk and steals the magic harp from 
the giant, although he knows the story is a 
fairy tale, experiences a pleasurable thrill 
akin to the almost universal wish of the 
human race to believe in a promise of im- 
mortal existence after this life ends. 

It is upon this credulity of mankind that 
religion has played through the centuries of 
its existence, until blind faith has so im- 
printed itself on the human mind that un- 
deniable truth and reason are almost helpless 
to correct the injury wrought by some of its 
teachings; but the Church must bear its 
share of responsibility for the present wick- 



HUMAN RELIGION 15 

edness of mankind, for it emphasizes the 
claim that the advance of civilization is 
mainly due to the spreading of its gos- 
pel. 

There must come a time when the human 
race will awaken to a realization of the value 
of human life and to the importance of look- 
ing upon it as paramount to the unsecured 
promise of a spiritual life. 

Nearly all great statesmen are cowards 
when faced with a religious discussion; in 
fact, the consequences of divergence from 
the established religious creeds is so disas- 
trous to the ambitions of those who have the 
temerity to voice their beliefs that few are 
willing to make the sacrifice. So the 
Church has gone on without organized oppo- 
sition throughout all the centuries since the 
dawn of the Christian era, gaining power 
as an organization, but, in the face of ad- 
vancing scientific education, losing convinc- 



16 HUMAN RELIGION 

ing persuasive force to convert intelligent 
educated non-believers to its faith. Its in- 
fluence, however, is a menace to the free ad- 
vocacy of any movement which does not 
conform to its teachings; but nothing can 
obscure the fact that unbridled wickedness 
is more dominant in the world to-day than 
ever before. In fact, there is a slowly 
growing belief that the religion taught by 
our existing Christian churches has proven 
to be a failure and that something better 
must be found to guide the human race into 
its full natural inheritance of peace and hap- 
piness. 

No religion burdened with the necessity 
of meeting the advance of science and dis- 
covery which are exposing its fallacies, with 
a plea for blind faith in its teachings, can 
accomplish for the human race the result 
for which the Christian religion is striving. 
A religion dependent upon superstitious 
faith and not susceptible of proof must, in 



HUMAN RELIGION 17 

time, find its limitations and lose its useful- 
ness. 

We can no longer believe that the Biblical 
miracles were supernaturally wrought, for 
the genius of man has produced results far 
more wonderful. We can live beneath the 
surface of the water, fly through the air, 
speak across the ocean, perpetuate the hu- 
man voice, and we have perfected scores of 
other accomplishments which surpass the 
magical performances recorded in the Bible 
which the Church has depended on for proof 
of its infallibility. 

The credulity of man insofar as the belief 
that this life should be subordinated to a 
supernatural existence after death, must 
succumb to the necessity of improving this, 
the real life, by teaching a gospel founded 
on facts which are susceptible of proof; on 
unclouded reason; on simple and easily un- 
derstood laws which will guide us to real 
happiness and away from sorrow, misery, 



18 HUMAN RELIGION 

and pain — a gospel that teaches us how to 
reap a reward while on earth for good living 
and noble deeds and to a correct apprecia- 
tion of the value of human life; in other 
words, a human religion. 

Intellect is the result of the operation of 
the various functions of the live body and 
becomes a means of control over the senses 
of man, of sight, of hearing, of smell, of 
taste and of feeling. It is through the ex- 
ercise of these senses that we feel emotions, 
and while nature called into being the op- 
eration of our senses it leaves to the intellect 
the control of them in producing emotions 
which are for either good or evil. 

Nature provided these senses so that we 
might produce for ourselves all of the en- 
joyable emotions, the gratification of which 
the world affords. It did not construct us 
to feel a craving for that which produces a 
sensation of joy and pleasure simply to im- 
pose punishment in denial of its gratifica- 



HUMAN RELIGION 19 

tion, nor did it intend that we should live 
our lives in gloom. It serves no good pur- 
pose either to ourselves or to others to forego 
the pleasures of this life when by their en- 
joyment no injury is done; but, to the con- 
trary, it is intended that our desires should 
be gratified, and the human race is just that 
much better off if they are. But we must 
be taught by a human religion that no act 
in the pursuit of or in the enjoyment of 
pleasure shall endanger the life or health or 
do injury either to ourselves or others. Re- 
ligion should teach us how to embrace the 
possibilities of life under conditions which 
are well within the laws of health and which 
are conducive to the happiness of others as 
well as ourselves. 

Down the line of life from childhood to 
youth, from youth to manhood and from 
manhood to the end, there are possibilities 
of enjoyment and success which are not and 
cannot be fully acquired until the human 



20 HUMAN RELIGION 

mind is directed by a different creed from 
that which we now pretend to follow. 

Good health, freedom, gratified ambition, 
friendship, love between the sexes, compan- 
ionship, the execution of justice, the distri- 
bution of charity, peace, comfort and luxury 
are all compensations which may be attained 
in this life as rewards for virtuous living, 
while disease, failure, slavery, misery, de- 
spair and premature death are almost sure 
to result from wickedness. Therefore, the 
reward for being good and the punishment 
for being bad are existent on this earth, yet 
we are taught to ignore this fact or, rather, 
to subordinate it to an anticipated reward 
or punishment which is supposed to be an 
imaginary life. 

We must be taught through the ages to 
come, that the taking of human life is cow- 
ardice and its preservation is bravery. This 
life can be made so desirable through the 
result of proper teaching that the full ap- 



HUMAN RELIGION 21 

preciation of it will cause universal desire 
to prevent its premature destruction either 
through violence or reckless use of vitality 
in the gratification of our desires. Such a 
result can be accomplished only through an 
organization that would be able to withstand 
the savage resistance awaiting it from exist- 
ing religious organizations and be powerful 
enough to spread a gospel entirely human in 
its teachings: a gospel combining all the 
good that is human in the gospels of existing 
religions, with a doctrine devoid of supersti- 
tious gloom and founded upon principles of 
high morality, directing the way to comfort, 
luxury and happiness without creating a 
feeling that we are sinning while enjoying 
success. 

The impulsive desire of man, resulting 
from centuries of education, makes it im- 
perative that his religion should possess a 
quality which invites worship ; and the exist- 
ence of the universe permits us rationally to 



22 HUMAN RELIGION 

give thanks to that power or force, or what- 
ever continuing energy causes its perpetual 
life, for the life which it gave to us. 

We know that the universe does exist, and 
we know that the earth does not diminish 
because earthly matter is indestructible and 
gravity retains every atom of matter belong- 
ing to it; we know, also, that it does not 
increase in bulk, for there is no matter in 
space subject to its attraction to cause its 
increase. It is a rational conclusion, there- 
fore, that the other orbs of the universe are 
controlled by the same natural laws and re- 
main, as the earth remains, unaltered so far 
as bulk is concerned. 

We think and speak of the universe as 
having been created, yet we know that noth- 
ing can be created without the material or 
substance of which it is composed. There- 
fore, there could have been no creation; or 
if created from material which did exist, 
then we come to the creation of the material 



HUMAN RELIGION 23 

—a problem which presents the same anom- 
aly. So without doing violence to the natu- 
ral laws which have been proved by scientific 
research, we must conclude that the exist- 
ence of the universe has endured, retrospec- 
tively, throughout unending time — in fact, 
that it never was created but has always 
existed. 

At any rate we arrive at a point in the 
creation problem where human intelligence 
fails: but we do know that the universe is 
real, and no superstition is required to be- 
lieve in its existence. In fact, it is an obvi- 
ous truth and presents a result so sublime 
in its grandeur that we can safely satisfy our 
desire for worship by appropriating the laws 
which govern that grand perpetual life as 
our guiding God and worship them as the 
God of nature and controller of that which 
we know to be of value — our human lives. 

Let us sue such a God, not as a God of 
vengeance to visit upon the children the sins 



24 HUMAN RELIGION 

of the fathers, or as one who — being all 
powerful and knowing all things in the past 
and future — puts sinners on earth that they 
may be damned to everlasting punishment 
in a future life, or who allows the escape of 
punishment for sins committed simply by 
repentance : but let us look to that God as a 
God of law and justice who through the laws 
of nature constitutes that real power which 
keeps us a part of the universe and so con- 
structed our bodies that we can enjoy all the 
manifold blessings and escape, so far as may 
be, the pain and sorrows of this life by 
proper use of our intelligence. 

Let us not claim that in addition to the 
giving of human life our God has written 
for us, by supernaturally inspiring certain 
mortals, a set of ambiguous rules to govern 
our course of life — rules which are open to 
many constructions and impossible of uni- 
versal understanding: but let us use the in- 
tellect which life gives us to promulgate a 



HUMAN RELIGION 25 

simple gospel founded upon these natural 
laws, adapted to the present condition of the 
human mind, so that it may be used in edu- 
cating the inhabitants of the world to live 
their natural lives to the best advantage and 
to maintain permanent peace among nations. 

Permanent peace will never be main- 
tained so long as the valuation of human life 
remains at the low standard in which it is 
now held; nor can the value of human life 
be enhanced by any known means other than 
through the teachings of a human religion 
founded upon natural laws. Religion has 
caused its depreciation ; religion must restore 
its value. 

A religion to do this cannot be written by 
one man, for it must teach us how to meet 
all the exigencies of life. A successful 
movement in this direction must emanate 
from an organization having power to com- 
mand the best literary and philosophical 
talent the world affords. If some of the 



26 HUMAN RELIGION 

peace-loving philanthropists who are seek- 
ing a way to advance the cause of perma- 
nent peace could but realize the good effect 
which would be produced to the cause by a 
rearrangement of our religious text upon 
sane and believable conceptions, it would 
seem reasonable to assume that the future 
could possess an organization financially 
strong enough to cope with the fanaticism of 
our existing religions. 

When we consider the immense accumu- 
lation of wealth which is at the disposal of 
the many so-called orthodox churches now 
extant, it seems obvious that very slow prog- 
ress could be made by an opposing cause 
without the formation of an organization 
having financial backing of some of the 
great money kings of the world. It is not 
suggested that money, or the earning of 
money, be made an object in the establish- 
ment of a human religion ; but it is essential, 
in the incipiency of such a cause, to have the 



HUMAN RELIGION 27 

means with which to organize a force equal 
to the resistance with which its very existence 
will be met. 

It is not within the intellectual power, nor 
is it the intention of the writer to promulgate 
a new religious doctrine: what is written 
here is humbly submitted to the public be- 
cause of a firm conviction that by bringing 
the teachings of religion from the super- 
natural to the natural a great betterment in 
the condition of the human race will be 
caused, and that the world is not so good 
under its present instruction that it cannot 
be improved. 

All that can be done by this or any other 
writer is to make suggestions with the hope 
that they may reach and influence some 
philanthropist who has the means and the 
disposition to inaugurate a movement hav- 
ing for its object the crystalization of that 
vast mental opposition to the supernatural 
quality of our existing religious creeds, 



28 HUMAN RELIGION 

which secretly exists, into an open, active 
opposition that would unquestionably result 
in untold benefit to the future of mankind. 

Let us imagine the effect on the human 
race if, two thousand years ago, our religion 
had been founded upon commands some- 
what on the lines of the following sugges- 
tions : 

1st. Thou shalt not take or endanger thy 
life either by violence or in the excessive use 
of thy vitality, except in an effort to pre- 
serve the lives of others who through acci- 
dent have become endangered; for he who 
preserves his own life, or the lives of others, 
is brave and should be honored by all men. 

2nd. Thou shalt not take the life, or en- 
danger the life of another, for he who takes 
human life is a coward and will be scorned 
by all good men. 

3rd. Thou shalt learn the art of life. 
How to preserve thy body. How to live up 
to the laws of health. How to enhance the 



HUMAN RELIGION 29 

joy of living without injury to thyself or 
others and to obey and aid in the enforce- 
ment of the laws of the land in which thou 
livest. 

4th. Thou shalt teach thy children all 
that thou knowest which will enure to their 
health and happiness. How to suppress 
angry passions. How to cultivate and 
maintain good dispositions. How to derive 
pleasure from serving others as well as thy- 
self. 

5th. Thou shalt render aid to those in 
distress whenever it is within thy power and 
extend thy sympathy to those in sorrow, and 
by cheerfulness endeavor to bring them back 
to the enjoyment of life's duties and pleas- 
ures. 

6th. Thou shalt, by honest dealing with 
thy fellow men and by the production of 
something of value, endeavor to acquire an 
ample fortune that thou mayest provide for 
thyself and thine all the comforts and luxu- 



30 HUMAN RELIGION 

ries that the world affords, to the end that 
thy life and the lives of those dependent 
upon thee may be happy and free from 
want. 

7th. Thou shalt avoid excess in the grati- 
fication of thy desires, remembering that the 
excessive use of many of the blessings of this 
life deprives thee of the power to enjoy, 
leads to ill health and often to crime. 

8th. Thou shalt so conduct thy daily 
habits that thy life shall endure through the 
time which nature intended, to the end that 
the world may be benefited by the knowl- 
edge thou shouldst gain as time progresses 
and by thy good example. 

9th. Thou shalt not take that which does 
not rightfully belong to thee, or lie, or de- 
ceive others for any purpose whatsoever. 

10th. Thou shalt do unto others as thou 
wouldst they should do unto thee. 

Crude and incomplete as these suggested 
commands seem, they are at least human 



HUMAN RELIGION 31 

and possessed of fundamental principles 
upon which the human mind could be trained 
to regard life as the most valuable asset be- 
stowed by nature upon this world, and to 
cause the placing of its value by mankind 
above that of money or other property. 
Christianity has produced the opposite re- 
sult. 

Personal ambition, greed, and avarice 
control the world to-day, and human life is 
freely subordinated to them. Had the peo- 
ple of this world undergone training during 
nearly two thousand years by religion 
founded upon the above suggested com- 
mands, properly constructed and enlarged, it 
is inconceivable that the ruler of a peaceable 
domestic people could have led them into a 
world conflict which foreshadowed the de- 
struction of millions of human lives, simply 
to gratify his personal ambition to make the 
greatest empire in history. 

It would be inconceivable also under such 



32 HUMAN RELIGION 

teachings that the nations of the world 
should consider it necessary to maintain im- 
mense standing armies and navies or to go 
to war as a means of settling their differ- 
ences. 

It is not desired nor intended to unjustly 
criticise or hurt the sensibilities of those who 
are members of church organizations, and it 
is freely admitted that a large proportion 
thereof are entirely sincere in their beliefs; 
but no writer can avoid bringing down upon 
himself the intolerance and condemnation 
which opposition to their superstitious faith 
engenders, no matter how well-founded and 
truthful that opposition may be. It is es- 
sential, however, to look existing conditions 
well in the face, regardless of consequences, 
if the cause advocated is to be advanced. 

The actual church organizations are not 
doing the real charitable work of the world 
to-day, nor have they ever accomplished in 
material charity the good to the human race 



HUMAN RELIGION 33 

performed by scores of public and private 
organizations not directly a part of any sec- 
tarian branch of the Christian religion. 
The immense revenues of the churches are 
expended mainly in the maintenance of 
church buildings (many of which are pala- 
tial in their appointments), and to the pay- 
ment of comfortable salaries and to support 
the army of preachers, priests, and digni- 
taries necessitated by a desire to maintain 
the strongest concrete organization possible. 
Comparatively but little of these revenues 
are devoted to the needs of the distressed 
population to be found in every community. 
The church buildings are used as places of 
meeting to hear discourses by the best ora- 
tors obtainable and to enjoy beautiful sacred 
music. Church service is made as attractive 
as possible, and while a congregation in- 
cludes many who are devout believers in the 
faith, the meetings are more or less social 
functions where the members congregate to 



34 HUMAN RELIGION 

display their most attractive costumes and 
enjoy communication with their friends and 
neighbors; the great desideratum being, 
however, according to the devout and credu- 
lous members, the salvation of the souls of 
those who attend these meetings and the 
condemnation of those who do not. Thus 
hundreds of millions of dollars are spent an- 
nually by the church, which, if applied to 
real ^charitable work, would render untold 
comfort and happiness to thousands of be- 
ings possessing actual and valuable lives. 

The carrying into effect of enunciations 
proclaimed from church pulpits would mean 
the condemnation of at least two thirds of 
the inhabitants of the earth to punishment 
in a life to come for being unable to sub- 
scribe to such beliefs, regardless of what 
their lives might otherwise be. 

The Christian religion is founded upon ex 
parte evidence which, according to the laws 
of man, is ruled out in the trial of criminal 



HUMAN RELIGION 35 

or civil cases in our courts of justice. Na- 
ture has given us analytical brains with 
which to discriminate between that which is 
and that which is not convincing, yet we are 
condemned as sinners because of an inability 
to accept their faith blindly and against the 
conclusions to which our intelligence forces 
us. If these teachings, which fortunately 
have now become primitive, were actually 
realized, how absolutely repulsive to human 
conception of justice they would be; and 
how unjust the church makes its all-powerful 
God who is represented as controlling the 
universe and incidentally His word, the 
Bible, directing the course of human life on 
this small planet. 

We must judge the work of the church 
by the results accomplished and concede to 
it the benefit that has resulted from its ef- 
fort, which is limited mainly to the artificial 
consolation that hope gives to those in afflic- 
tion; a consolation that need not be de- 



36 HUMAN RELIGION 

stroyed by any proposed human religion, 
for there is nothing suggested nor would its 
creed contain anything to render the soul 
accredited by the Christian religion to the 
human body less exalted or less worthy of 
the supposed spiritual life to come after 
death: but we must remember that neither 
the thousands of sermons preached weekly 
nor the millions of prayers, nor the love, nor 
the fear of its complex God has proven ef- 
fectual in preventing the conditions of wick- 
edness and crime which pales into insignifi- 
cance the sins of the ancients now bearing 
down the human race to despair and sorrow. 

When we analyze even thus briefly the 
Christian religion and expose its weakness, 
it does not seem hazardous to change our 
religion to conform to the known laws of 
nature. 

The approach of the end of man's life is 
accompanied by suffering which is often 
prolonged and agonizing both to the sufferer 



HUMAN RELIGION 37 

and those who are dearest to him; but to 
those who remain there is always that con- 
soling thought that the dear departed is at 
rest, and there is nothing revolting in the 
thought that our loved ones are peacefully 
sleeping with no painful awakening to come. 

Had the human race been directed by the 
prevailing religion through centuries past, 
that nature gave us this life to use for good, 
for peace and for happiness, without refer- 
ence to a future existence, the mental con- 
tentment of mankind would be on a higher 
plane than it is to-day; and if the thought 
and energy which is now applied to the con- 
templation of and the effort to gain a future 
unnatural existence was devoted to the solv- 
ing of the problem of this, our real life, we 
would be much further advanced towards 
civilization than we are. 

Let us imagine that by some mental evo- 
lution the rich and powerful church organi- 
zations now existing could be devoted to the 



38 HUMAN RELIGION 

inauguration of a human religion such as 
has been indicated herein; that the aggre- 
gated force of its army of dignitaries 
through some unforeseen influence should 
experience a change of heart and unite in 
formulating a gospel entirely human, from 
which to preach sermons instructive and use- 
ful in teaching us how to attain the greatest 
benefits from this life — sermons that appeal 
to our intellects instead of our credulity and 
superstitions — and that this change of heart 
lead to the establishment of real charitable 
institutions when all the children born into 
the world whose parents are not capable of 
providing proper training could be received 
and trained throughout childhood and youth, 
classified according to their natural capacity 
and at maturity, unencumbered by supersti- 
tious idiosyncrasies, sent back to the world 
competent to become happy and useful citi- 
zens. 

Let us imagine that the children of the 



HUMAN RELIGION 39 

slums of all large cities, who are now born 
into and often educated to commit crime, 
were committed to such institutions where 
they could be properly trained to know the 
true value of human life and let us predict 
the result. 

In another generation there would be no 
gunmen on the East Side of New York city, 
or in Whitechapel, London, to commit mur- 
der for pay ; in fact, the criminal class would 
be reduced in all large cities and many good 
citizens made out of human beings who, 
under present conditions, become a menace 
to governments as well as society; and by 
the continued education of children to the 
belief that human life is the most valuable 
asset the world possesses. Then few gen- 
erations would be required, under such 
teachings, to change the whole trend of hu- 
man thought from the superstitions which 
have been instrumental in bringing the 
world to its present criminal condition, to a 



40 HUMAN RELIGION 

universal desire for permanent peace among 
men. 

Courage would be measured by forbear- 
ance and passion controlled by veneration 
for a love of human life. 



PART SECOND 

Quite apart from the mountainous ac- 
cumulation of crime existing on earth, which 
can be traced indirectly if not directly to the 
ineffectual teachings of the Christian reli- 
gion, we are faced with an amount of un- 
happiness and discontent that indicates an 
appalling waste of the joys available in this 
life. 

There are many domestic and social prob- 
lems which might be solved by the abandon- 
ment of the conventions of the Christian 
religion and the substitution of a human 
doctrine meeting the actual conditions prev- 
alent in the associations of the human race. 

We have but to stand on the crowded 
thoroughfares of our large cities and note 
the unhappiness indicated by the many pass- 

41 



42 HUMAN RELIGION 

ing faces, and to observe the discontent of 
those with whom we come in daily contact 
to realize the failure of Christianity to pro- 
duce that degree of mental placidity which 
natural conditions warrant and to create the 
belief that a change is necessary in the un- 
derlying influences which are guiding our 
mental tuition. 

The most ecstatic bliss vouchsafed to man 
is to mate with the opposite sex in a partner- 
ship that will exist successfully throughout 
life; under otherwise normal conditions, the 
nearest approach to a state of complete hap- 
piness is constituted. 

We need appeal to no supernatural power 
or existence for the gratification of our most 
ardent natural desires. 

The supreme joys of this life are sufficient 
to warrant a lasting rest at its end, provided 
we are successful in securing a consort who 
satisfies the yearnings of human love. It is 
mainly upon the success of marriage that the 



HUMAN RELIGION 43 

solution of the problem of life depends, for 
without that joyous sentimental companion- 
ship which exists between the happy man 
and wife, this life is deficient of its main 
pleasurable possibility. But there are thou- 
sands of marriages taking place daily where 
the temper of one or the both prove antag- 
onistic, which renders a continuous union 
impossible except at the expense of happi- 
ness and contentment. The laws governing 
marriage in nearly all civilized countries are 
prompted by and are in accordance with the 
dictation of the Christian church which an- 
tagonizes any suggestion offering relief for 
the misfortunes of nuptial mesalliances; yet 
there is nothing in the course of human life 
so conducive to angry passion, hypocrisy, 
falsehood, deception and dissipation, all of 
which are sinful and wicked, than the un- 
happiness caused by incompatibility of tem- 
per between man and wife. 

Here again the Christian religion has 



44 HUMAN RELIGION 

proven a failure in its efforts to encourage 
righteous living or to produce a profound 
solution to the necessities which nature has 
forced upon us. Its failures in this respect 
are so obvious that a large per cent of the 
world's inhabitants either delay marriage 
beyond the time when the gratification of 
natural passion becomes essential to the pur- 
suit of health and happiness, or prevents it 
altogether, thus establishing a condition 
which calls into existence a social problem, 
the solution of which is one of the most diffi- 
cult we have to meet. 

What is known as the social evil would not 
exist, or at least only to a minor extent, if 
our marriage laws permitted, and the con- 
ventions of society countenanced, a sane and 
reasonable means of alleviating the disaster 
caused by unfortunate marriages, most of 
which are due to the extreme youth of the 
contracting parties when reason and love are 
obscured by sexual passion ; yet any sugges- 



HUMAN RELIGION 45 

tion of a remedy for the glaring imperfec- 
tions of our marriage laws are condemned 
and opposed by the church with such per- 
sistency that it has been impossible to change 
them except in the direction of greater co- 
hesion. 

The sanctity of home is a misnomer when 
used as applicable to the result of marriages 
which often develop into a continuous and 
offensive quarrel. There can be no sanctity 
under such conditions, and the rearing of 
children surrounded by domestic infelicity 
is predisposed to injure their chances for a 
happy and successful life. 

These glaring imperfections in the con- 
struction of regulations controlling our do- 
mestic life have been in existence for centu- 
ries and have created discontent in hundreds 
of thousands of men and women; yet we 
allow a continuance of this devastation of 
human happiness, because Christian religion 
has instilled into our belief a conviction that 



46 HUMAN RELIGION 

a marriage contract should remain in force 
regardless of consequences and notwith- 
standing the fact that they are life contracts, 
made generally at a time when neither the 
youth nor the maiden have attained a suffi- 
cient age of discretion to warrant them in 
making even a temporary partnership con- 
tract involving a small monetary considera- 
tion. 

It is not the purpose of these writings to 
discourage marriage or to encourage the 
separation of those who have married; in 
fact, its purpose is exactly to the contrary. 
They are directed toward a search for the 
means of causing universal marriage by 
finding a way to insure its success, for with- 
out it the value of human life is largely 
depreciated and the enhancement of the 
value of human life is undeniably, at this 
time, the most important step towards the 
advancement of civilization that can be 
made. 



HUMAN RELIGION 47 

Progress in any effort to correct the im- 
perfections of our marriage laws is depend- 
ent mainly upon the inauguration of a 
human religion with which to awaken the 
public conscience to the fact that they are 
now a source of as much or more misery 
than of happiness and that our churches 
stand materially opposed to any practical 
remedy which is suggested. 

Probably the most sensitive sentiment we 
feel is the love of the parent for the child, 
and the separation of parents involves at 
least a partial separation of the child from 
either the father or mother which creates dis- 
tress so acute that the parents often continue 
living together throughout a long existence 
harrowed by jealousy, angry contentions 
and suspicions which, but for the child, 
would terminate early enough in life for 
each to find a congenial mate and live hap- 
pily to the end. It is questionable whether 
the child is benefited by this fact. Early 



48 HUMAN RELIGION 

impressions are more effective in forming 
character than those which are received 
later. The excitement and distress im- 
parted to children by quarreling or dissi- 
pated parents are sure to affect adversely 
their characters and endanger their success 
in life. 

A greater number of vicious dispositions 
are cultivated and permanently developed 
through the result of marriage misalliances 
both in parents and their children than are 
caused either by other environments or in- 
heritance ; and a vicious disposition is a curse 
to its possessor and a cause of destruction 
to the comfort and often to the happiness of 
those who are brought in contact with it. 

This argument is not directed towards 
nor does it advocate regulations permitting 
the loose intermingling of the sexes. It is 
desired simply to expose the imperfections 
of our existing regulations which are so in- 
adequate to the requirements of our natural 



HUMAN RELIGION 49 

desires that the loose intermingling of the 
sexes has already developed to a distressing 
extent. 

It may be justly claimed that the ingenu- 
ity of man has failed to provide means for 
the propagation of the race and the gratifi- 
cation of the sexual passion without causing 
unhappiness to many and making law break- 
ers of many more. It may be justly 
claimed, also, that the churches are mainly 
responsible for this dereliction of duty, be- 
cause any change in our marriage laws, 
making them more practical, is a violation 
of its creed. The question is, therefore, how 
can we cure the existing evil and prevent the 
depreciation in the value of human life which 
it is causing? 

The most important innovation necessary 
to the solution of this question is the adop- 
tion of a religion which directs us in secur- 
ing the full benefits of this life and leaves 
the unreal life to come to the direction of 



50 HUMAN RELIGION 

the imaginary power which is to cause 
it. 

To cure an evil such as that under discus- 
sion we must strike at the root, which, in this 
case, is the mental temper of mankind pro- 
duced by following the Christian religion 
through centuries past. We must be made 
to realize that happiness in this life is the 
all-important result which should be accom- 
plished by our religious beliefs, and that 
w r hile bringing happiness to many, marriage, 
under existing laws, destroys the happiness 
of thousands and thousands of well-meaning 
people worthy of a better fate. With this 
belief once instilled into the mental faculty 
of man, the remedy would soon be forth- 
coming; but it is improbable that early relief 
can be realized through a religious evolution 
such as that proposed. Therefore, any sug- 
gestion, practical under existing conditions, 
should have careful consideration. 

When the writer occupied a prominent 



HUMAN RELIGION 51 

official position in Washington many years 
ago, a very attractive — in fact, a beautiful 
young woman came into his office and in- 
formed him that her husband, who was an 
employee in his bureau, was paying atten- 
tion to his female assistant and neglecting 
his home duties. Her story indicated clearly 
that fault rested with the husband who was 
informed, firstly, that no scandal would be 
permitted among the employees, and then 
was asked if he loved his wife, to which he 
replied in the affirmative. He was then told 
that his wife had called and complained of 
his conduct and that there were a great many 
men waiting anxiously to possess just such 
beautiful young women ; men who would ap- 
preciate her as a wife which he did not, and 
that if he was not careful he would lose her. 
This was a contingency which had never oc- 
curred to him. It had the desired effect for 
the wife informed the writer several months 
later that all differences between them had 



52 HUMAN RELIGION 

been settled and that they were both happy. 
They are, so far as known, still living hap- 
pily together. 

This incident is briefly mentioned as illus- 
trative of the effect which can be produced 
in the settlement of trouble between man 
and wife by an appeal to human nature from 
an authoritative source. A large per cent 
of the divorces granted could be avoided by 
the intervention of a legally authorized arbi- 
trator, if appealed to in the early stages of 
the marital infelicity. Trouble between 
man and wife usually begins with trivial 
differences which, if once obliterated, per- 
mits of a continuous life of domestic happi- 
ness. Therefore, it is proposed to establish 
a Court of Reconciliation to which either 
the husband or wife, or both, can go for ad- 
vice and aid. A court which deals directly 
with the man and wife and before which 
attorneys are prohibited from pleading; a 
court possessed with power to summons 



HUMAN RELIGION 53 

either on the application of the other for 
interrogation under oath if need be, and 
through which all applications for divorce 
must pass and receive approval before they 
can be filed in the courts having jurisdiction 
to grant divorce. 

This court should be composed of pro- 
found students of human nature and unusual 
discretion, and should be required by law not 
to allow the filing of a divorce suit until 
every possible means which might cause 
reconciliation had been exhausted and after 
the rights and interests of both husband, 
wife and children, if any, had been con- 
sidered. 

It is proposed, also, that our marriage 
laws and the conventions of society be so 
relaxed that no disgrace nor reflection of 
any kind could be attached to the judgments 
of this court or to the divorce if necessary. 

Divorce would be less immoral under such 
safeguards and its results less injurious to 



54 HUMAN RELIGION 

the value of life than to force continuance 
of marriage contracts after affection and 
respect ceased to exist between husband and 
wife. 

It is a wicked law which — unless immoral- 
ity is proven — forces a contract to remain 
valid after it has become a failure and de- 
structive to the happiness and welfare of all 
parties concerned. 

The statutory grounds for divorce in 
nearly all countries are such that either the 
male or female is more or less disgraced 
by the mere fact of having been divorced, 
and the conventions of religion and society 
frown upon the innocent as ; well as the guilty 
party; therefore, when marriage becomes a 
destruction to success and happiness and 
leads to lawlessness, as it often does, there 
is no escape except that which is accom- 
panied by the stigma resulting from require- 
ments of the law and injustice of religious 
and social conventions. 



HUMAN RELIGION 55 

So long as these conditions exist, so long 
will illicit relations between the sexes con- 
tinue to increase, and so long will marriage 
contribute to produce a feeling of indiffer- 
ence on the part of those made unhappy 
whether the life lasts or not. 

The moral standard of any community 
would be vastly improved by the proposed 
enactments, and a chance would be given 
to the rearrangement of life along lines that 
might bring happiness to many now drift- 
ing in discomfort and misery. 

It would, of course, take time for society 
to adapt itself to such divergent conditions 
from those which now exist; but the result 
would eventually contribute to the success of 
and encourage early marriage, substantially 
decrease the number of divorces desired and 
reduce commercialized vice, thereby adding 
materially to the morality and happiness of 
the human race with the consequent enhance- 
ment of the value of human life. 



THIRD PART 

It is with some degree of hesitancy that 
we approach the part that Christian religion 
is performing in the education and training 
of children, for it is here that its hurtful 
superstitions take root and permeate the 
whole human fabric. 

Every child born to the followers of the 
Christian faith receives that lasting super- 
stitious mental impression under which the 
world has arrived at its present state of strife 
and wickedness and which it is almost im- 
possible for the child to eradicate after its 
mentality has developed reasoning faculties. 

We refer to the continuous cheapening of 
this life by teaching the child that it should 
be subordinated to a suppositive future spir- 
itual existence. 

56 



HUMAN RELIGION 57 

Generations of the human race are ex- 
alted or degenerated by the wise or blunder- 
ing beliefs and impulses of those who train 
children from infancy to years of discretion, 
yet the world goes on in the same old way 
allowing generation after generation of chil- 
dren to be trained by parents totally incom- 
petent to impart those high moral, intel- 
lectual, and natural thoughts which are es- 
sential in the making of good and honorable 
citizens. 

The per cent of parents competent and so 
situated that they can properly care for and 
train their children into intelligent and 
healthy adults is comparatively small, and 
to them no advice or counsel is necessary ex- 
cept that which opposes the superstitions of 
the Christian religion. The child is indeed 
fortunate who can receive the loving atten- 
tion and guidance of intelligent parents and 
be surrounded by the supreme joys of a com- 
fortable and happy home. But what of the 



58 HUMAN RELIGION 

millions who are not so blessed? It is not 
the prosperous fortunate few who conclus- 
ively effect the future of the human race; 
it is the teeming millions of budding life 
born to the lower and poorer classes of so- 
ciety who, through suffrage and energy, are 
the future wielders of empire and makers 
or destroyers of civilization. It is to the 
vast majorities of mankind we must look for 
the suppression of wickedness and vice, and 
to achieve success we must find the means of 
eliminating the vicious propensities which 
naturally grow from unclean and immoral 
surroundings during early life. 

Christianity has utterly failed to provide 
a solution to the glaring imperfections of 
our customs in the rearing of the great ma- 
jority of the children born into this naturally 
glorious world. It has contented itself with 
the inculcation of its superstitious beliefs 
that cheapen our natural and real life, down 
to the very lowest grades of society, and has 



HUMAN RELIGION 59 

proven its inability to stem the tide of human 
passion which is sweeping the human race 
towards utter misery and despair. Why, 
then, can we not try a human religion, ap- 
plying it first to the rearing and training of 
children, thus laying a foundation for a new 
and, as we believe, a better civilization? 

Many of our nations have abandoned 
despotic forms of government which form- 
ally prevailed, to enjoy greater freedom 
under republican forms of government. 
The old Puritanic sumptuary laws have been 
modified and rejected as unjust and in- 
human. The world is drifting towards uni- 
versal democracy as a means of relief from 
the crimes against the people committed by 
cruel monarchs in the name of justice. The 
great masses of the people are learning the 
art of self-government, how to throw off the 
yoke of servitude inherited from old govern- 
mental forms which once were as fixed as 
the superstitions of religion. 



60 HUMAN RELIGION 

As man's mental point of view on life 
broadens, changes have been and are taking 
place in all the governing influences of life 
except that of religion, which affects our 
destiny more intimately than all the rest and 
should cause a grand advance in mental com- 
placency equal to the advance of science. 
Therefore, when our religion fails to bring 
peace to the world or stem the tide of in- 
iquitious injustice now casting its gloom 
over the human race, why should we not 
have a new and more natural religion which 
conforms to the requirements of advancing 
education, of increasing population and 
which will elevate the standard of human 
life? 

The answer to this question involves the 
admission that nearly two thousand years of 
Christianity has produced in such a large 
proportion of our inhabitants an indestruc- 
tible faith in the existence of a spiritual life, 
that success in the ultimate adoption of a 




HUMAN RELIGION 61 

human religion depends in a great measure 
on the training of children in conformity 
with its teachings. 

The word "charity" is synonymous with 
the perfection of a scheme to accomplish that 
result, for there is no condition of life where 
advancing civilization so strenuously needs 
the intervention of philanthropy than in the 
creation of a humane system for raising 
children so that they may be equipped to 
meet the necessities of life as we find them 
to-day. 

With this fact in mind it is proposed that 
homes be established for children who have 
passed the age where mothers' care is essen- 
tial and that these homes be open to universal 
but not compulsory use. It is not intended 
to suggest that the proposed homes should 
be limited to that portion of our people who 
are deserving of charity, but that they be 
available for children with parents able to 
pay for their keep and training. 



62 HUMAN RELIGION 

In fact, the extended use of such homes 
would depend upon the separation of the 
charitable institutions from those which 
could be made self-sustaining. 

It is mainly through the extended use of 
such homes, which should serve the double 
purpose of providing an intelligent system 
for the raising and training of children and 
imparting to them new religious philosophy, 
that old superstitions can be prevented from 
transmission to future generations; there- 
fore, these homes should become a part of 
the organization that is to undertake the en- 
lightenment of the world by the spread of 
a human religion. 

It is only through the voluntary use of 
such homes that they could be made effective. 
If properly organized and controlled, re- 
sults would soon attract to them a large por- 
tion of the children who now drift to ma- 
turity without proper care or training. 

It takes but little contact with the world 



HUMAN RELIGION 63 

to reveal the deplorable neglect forced upon 
children by the necessities compelling their 
parents to engage in commercial or other 
service without the means of providing 
proper safeguards during absence, or the 
cruel treatment often received from irritable 
or drunken parents. We have but to go 
into the crowded portions of large cities and 
see the thousands of wounded, scared and 
diseased children to find convincing proof of 
the incompetency of either the laws of na- 
tions, or the Christian religion, to prevent 
this cruelty to helpless infancy, to under- 
stand why vice and wickedness stalks the 
earth untrameled in a successful race with 
peace and happiness. 

There is no field where philanthropy could 
produce more humane results or render 
greater service to advancing civilization than 
by the establishment of homes in which these 
children could live and be trained, to say 
nothing of using them as a means of plant- 



64 HUMAN RELIGION 

ing the seeds of a human religion for the 
benefit of the world's future. 

Let us compare their condition and pros- 
pects in life even with that of those who 
are raised in orphan asylums, usually poorly 
financed and consequently not so effective 
as they should be. 

The writer has in mind one called The 
Foundation Home, which from its name will 
be known as purely a charitable institution. 
There hundreds of children are trained to 
useful pursuits and brought through the 
early stages of life contented and happy 
under a sane and practical system of re- 
straint conducive to health, intelligence and 
morality. 

In the extensive grounds of this institu- 
tion can be seen at certain hours of the day, 
hundreds of children going through exer- 
cises and playing games, clean and joyously 
radiating health ; thus, notwithstanding their 
unfortunate origin, at maturity they are de- 



HUMAN RELIGION 65 

livered to the world competent to become 
respected citizens of the nation in which this 
institution is located. Consider for a mo- 
ment the kindness to the little helpless hu- 
man beings, and the benefit to the future of 
any large city, if from its slums we could 
literally sweep the children into such insti- 
tutions. 

We must compare the actual condition 
and possibilities of the children born to the 
lower grades of society, with those in such 
institutions, to appreciate the cruelty which 
is being permitted within our sight, and to 
admit that both the civic and religious organ- 
izations have failed to apply a remedy which 
is so obviously available. 

It is not alone the poorer classes who 
would benefit by the inauguration of a child- 
rearing evolution such as is proposed. 
Thousands of parents who cannot and know 
they cannot give that attention to their chil- 
dren which love prompts them to give, but 



66 HUMAN RELIGION 

who are able to pay for their keep, would 
gladly avail themselves of these homes if 
they were properly organized and humanely 
managed. 

The general prejudice which now exists 
against the temporary separation of parents 
and their younger children would soon dis- 
appear the same as that which was originally 
felt against the use of public schools and the 
cost of maintaining them in such institutions 
would not exceed the cost of keeping them 
at home. We send our older children to 
boarding-schools and often pay heavily for 
tuition; then, why should w T e look with dis- 
favor on sending the younger children to in- 
stitutions where they can receive the neces- 
sary care and training which we cannot give 
them at home? 

We may safely predict that a successful 
demonstration would appeal to the mother 
love which naturally grasps at anything en- 
nuring to the welfare of the child; that the 



HUMAN RELIGION 67 

raising of children without system and in 
disregard of the laws of health, or of train- 
ing necessary to permit of success in after 
life, would soon become a thing of the past. 
We do not desire to paint a pen picture 
of an easy transition from the present de- 
plorable condition of youthful life to a prac- 
tical intelligent organized system which will 
insure its development into matured man- 
hood with all the force and instinctive moral- 
ity which nature provided for. It is not an 
easy task, but one that can be accomplished 
by concentration of purpose, and there is no 
step towards a solution of life's problems 
more inspiring to those engaged in benevo- 
lent work or more promising of an early re- 
mission of man's fanatical religious beliefs 
than that leading to a sane and humane 
method of raising children in well-organized 
institutions under the restraint of sanitary 
and healthful rules enforced by humane in- 
structors who, in turn, could be made an- 



68 HUMAN RELIGION 

swerable to the parents for the safety and 
well being of the child. 

There could not exist a condition more 
appealing to charity, benevolence and hu- 
manity of mankind than that of helping 
helpless childhood to cast off the mantle of 
cruelty which now shadows their progress 
to maturity, so that they may grow in the 
radiance of life and in fear and abhorrence 
of crime. 



THE END 






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